Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-09-18
BISMARCK'S WIFE.
Appearance and Character of the
Lady who Rules the Ruler.


ga friend of mine who, during his
visit to Homburg, has met and fire.
ouently dined with Bsmarck's wife,
kindly sends me an interesting de-
scription of her," cables London cor
respondent. princess Bismarck, who
alone enjoys the privilege of telling
the masters of Europe that he needs
to change his collar or to be more
careful about his personal appearance
in general, was originally Fraulein
Won Puttkamer, a member OF noble
Pomeranian family, and she is
most interesting woman, although
probably not one in one thousand
readers has ever heard anything about
her. She cannot be called so lovely.
She is past 80, very tall and very
gray. Her face is very strong, with
large cheek bones. She is rather what
character of Dickens describes as "a
fine figure of woman inclined, per-
haps to be bony. Her acquaintance
with the people at Homburg and
Frankfort dates from the time long
ago, when Bismarck, not in the least
great man then, was simply an
official at Frankfort. She made
friends then to whom she has always
remained true, and whom she goes
every year to see.
Wherever Mrs. Bismarck is she
rules. When she enters a house
every window must be closed tight,
and no door can remain needlessly
open, as she shares with the French
their morbid dread of currents of air.
At the table she is fond OF talking, land
speaks very loud and decidedly.
She gets very much excited in dis
cussiOn, and to contradict her is not
safe. She is very fond of music, and
discusses it learnedly, although she
really knows little about it. This
causes many wordy battles between
her and her old friend, Baroness
Willie Rothschild, one of the friends
gained in Bismmarck's less important
days. The Baroness is old, and like
most of the Rothschilds, not remark
able for beauty, but she is bright,
really knows something about music,
writes French songs and composes
great deal. She plays and sings her
own work, and she and the Princess
Bismarck do great deal of talking
about it.
''The Princess shares her husbands
digestive trouble, and relies, like him,
upon the advice of the expert DR..
Schweininger but like her grand hus-
band and the old Emperor, she quite
refuses to be governed in her living by
medical advice, and my correspondent
writes me how she drinks champagne
almost frozen, in spite of the entreat-
les of her lady companion.
"'The only unfavorable thing about
Princess Won Bismarck says my
correspondent, naively, is that she
neglects to consider how youth should
be talked to, and even at tables, where
young girls may be, does not repress
her tendency to relate tales with a
faint of Boccaccio.'
princess Bismarck has brou rht her
boys up the way they should 60. and
although she lived long time in a
little hotel on Kieselegstrasse, they
came frequently to see her. Herbert,
from Koenigstein, and William, who
calls himself and likes to be called
"Bill' Bismarck, from Hainau, not
far from Frankfort, where he is land
rath. Neither of the boys resembles
his mother, but they take after their
father, especially William, who is a
wonderful exact, though mentally i'll
used, reproduction. A fortnight after
Princess Bismarck's arrival in HON.
burg, and while she and Baroness
Rothschild were still there, the En-
press, wife of old Emperor William,
arrived, and each declared that the
other was looking very well. The
Empress, more swell, of course, than
either of the others, arrived with a
grand suite and lived at the castle, but
my correspondent writes that she is
not proud, only little soured in dis
position, and often had the other two
old ladies to tea and talk. What rare
good gossip it must have been when
we consider the boundless sources of
news they possess in their husbands!"